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The Honda Civic Si may be a superstar in the sport-compact world, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best. The Civic Si’s greatest vulnerability next to the Cobalt SS involves its greatest asset: its high-revving, 2.0-liter, four-cylinder masterpiece.

With 197 peak horsepower produced at an eye-watering 7600 rpm and 139 pound-feet of torque at 6100 rpm, the engine is simply too high-strung for full-time enjoyment, to say nothing of being 63 horsepower and a whopping 121 pound-feet short of matching the Cobalt SS’s crushing thrust.

Even with the Cobalt’s chassis tweaks, though, the Si holds the advantage in the refinement column. Ditto the interior—although, rife as the Cobalt’s is with cheap plastics, it’s still easier on some of our eyes than Honda’s postmodern mélange.

At $21,745, the Civic Si starts about $1200 less than the Cobalt SS, but that money would have to go toward some sort of aftermarket steroids if the Civic Si is to keep pace with the new Cobalt SS.